Championship games often produce legendary stories of so called “heroes” playing through broken bones and torn ligaments. Unfortunately, what the stories don’t include is the long term or permanent disabilities left as a result of such heroic acts. It is difficult to fault an athlete for wanting to compete in what amounts to the culmination of a season or life time of hard work and dedication. This short term irrationality of the player is compounded by the pressures and expectations of the coaches, parents and teammates to “not let the team down”.

Now it’s true that there are some conditions, even painful ones that are acceptable to play through without significant repercussions. However, the decision of whether or not to play should only be made by a qualified health care provider. Only this person can make an educated, objective decision whether to play or refer onto a more qualified specialist and / or further diagnostics (i.e. X-rays). The parent or coach must divorce themselves from the emotion of the game or the moment and intervene if they see a change in function or performance that may indicate the player is attempting to play through an injury.

I am constantly telling young players that they will have many more “most important games of their lives” but only if they use their heads instead of their hearts.